His Aquatic Angel

5 - Nobles

Aaron watched it as it laughed freely. As the seconds went by, he grew less and less afraid of the creature.

"Nephrin. That's an.. interesting name." He said. "But may I ask a question?"

"You'd still ask me questions even when I do not give you permission, but go ahead."

"Are you male or female?"

The creature shook his head at him. "Of course I'm female, have you seen a male with my form?"

"I haven't seen any of your kind." He said.

"Oh." It's laughed. "That explains why you shook like crazy when I came over."

And just like that, Aaron saw the creature as a her and no longer as an 'it'. Which made him warm up to her a bit more.

"So, there are others. Of your kind?"

"Oh yes. Many, we have some on land." She said and immediately shut her mouth with her interlinked, duck-feet looking fingers.

"What do you mean?" He asked, trying to remember if there where fish creatures like her that dwelled on land.

"Nothing." She said, dragging on the word.

"If you won't tell me, fine. But I must say, you're an intresting creature. I've never seen such... form on anything on earth. And you say you're bilingual, fascinating."

"We're quite amazing really." She boasted. "Unlike basic men, we are very advanced."

"Hey, we're quite an advanced species too."

"I don't know. Two tails don't make you advanced. If you were so advanced as you claim, you would have saved yourself from drowning. No?"

"That was just misfortune." He sat on the boat. "How did you even know that I was in danger?"

"I saw the whole thing. From the flying machine and the ship you traveled on being destroyed. I wasn't sure if I should have helped you, I wasn't even supposed to be out there." She said, looking at the water.

"So, you knew you weren't supposed to save me and risked being exposed but you still did come for me?"

Nephrin shrugged. "I know, it was very irrational of me."

"I wouldn't call it irrational. It was very noble of you."

"Noble." She smiled, it's sharp teeth that hid behind, exposed. "Speaking of noble, I have to commend you on what you did on the ship. You dared to do what no man dared to."

"I know, I wasn't thinking straight and the captain kept emphasising on the fact that the box needed to be saved."

"Not that, mumdárk. You put a man's life before yours, I don't think I would have saved you if you hadn't done that."

"So my fate was dependent on what I had done. If I had been drowning without saving any one but myself, I would have died?"

"Precisely." She said, looking anxiously at the water.

"So where are you from?" He asked, looking at where she looked at the water.

"Do you mean where I'm from or where I from now?"

"I don't know, you can tell me both."

It looked at the water once more. "I'm from the motherwaters, Drig'thazad."

"Drig'thazad? Where is that?" He asked, his head now heavy with curiosity.

"I could tell you but... I have to leave." It said, looking at the water. He looked to see what she looked at and what troubled her so much.

"Well, can I see you again?"

"I don't know." It said.

"Please, I will come here again tomorrow. Same time."

"I might come see you then." It said before diving into the water, it's tail rolling along with its body.

But just as fast as it dived down, it emerged back up."

"Promise me that won't tell anyone about me." She asked.

"But, I just saw you and..."

"Promise me. It's for your own good."

He looked at the girl he had once referred to as a monster. "Okay." He agreed. "I won't utter one word."

"Good, because if you do, you'll die." It said seriously then offered him a sharp smile. "Goodbye now."

It dived back down and disappeared with lightning speed. Now he was bound to keep his promise, her threat seemed too scary to be made up.

So he conceded to keep his mouth shut as he rode the boat back into civilisation.

And that night, as he put his body to rest. He dreamt of swimming in the ocean.

♡.♡

All day, as he had worked behind the fry cook he thought about when next he'd see Nephrin, the mysterious being he had accounted yesterday.

He yearned for time to pass by so he could see her again. At some point during the day, he thought that he was running mad.

He had just seen a marine creature that was intelligent and was unlike anything he had ever seen before. He had thought severally that it might have just been a figment of his own imagination.

But it had been too real. Her features were much too real and original. He didn't want to call what he has, fisherman's fever because he hadn't seen a mermaid.

Nephrin wasn't a mermaid right? She hasn't half human, half fish. She was a full blown fish, with characteristic of human. Now he had so many questions to ask her.

Does she consider herself a mermaid?

Is she a being that possessed magical powers? I'm mean, she did just learn his language with just the touch of his hand.

Where exactly did she live?

Are the legends true, does her kind sink ships by just singing?

He was just so curious. And Aaron was notorious for being curious, adventurous, brave... sometimes too brave. And this was a perfect example.

Instead of letting the creature that saved him be, he insisted to search the water for it. And now that he found that he was looking for and it turned out to be more than he bargained for, he was still pushing on to know more about her.

Aaron was usually a lucky guy, but it is feared that one day his luck might just run out.